I'm still here
by xXrebelgirl07Xx
Summary: Alan ran away from home when he was sixteen and three years later works in many odd jobs, which includes security testing. One night he was hired to test the security on Tracy Enterprises, however everything changed. Alan's life is in danger and the only ones that can protect him is his family. But can Alan manage to keep his identity a secret from his family?
1. Chapter 1

**1)**

New York was surrounded by darkness of the night and everyone was asleep in his or her beds, all except one. He moved quickly in the shadows and moved closer towards Tracy Enterprises owned by the famous Jeff Tracy, billionaire and ex-astronaut. It was a simple job and he knew what was at stake if he didn't complete his job.

He stood in front of the entrance and picked up the lock and entered the building. Quiet and carefully, he turned off the alarms in the building and went to the elevators and pushed the button to top floor. He wasn't very worried about cameras catching him on film, since he had turned them off earlier in the day and said they were up for repairs. No one questioned about it and he didn't ask if they wondered why, but their ignorance was his reassurance and made everything work according to plan.

"Canary, can you read me over?" said a voice through his earpiece. His co-worker always used that codename on him, and out of all the nicknames he had been given through out the years that one was the worst.

"I told you many times already not to call me by that name," he said exasperated. "Please mind you that we're on a job and you calling me in the middle of it is really a bad timing."

"Ahh, come on little canary. You know that I'm only messing with you," the voice said, amused by his own joke. "Anyway things looks clear on top floor, but remember…"

"Yes, I know! Now shut up, I need to concentrate."

* * *

The elevator doors opened and he stepped out. Everything was dark with the exception of the moonlight coming from the windows, however you could easily see it was well cleaned in the hallway. If he had more time he would look around a little more, but now wasn't the time to observe the top floor. He opened the door to Mr. Tracy's office, but he didn't walk in. Instead he pulled out a powder case and blew the powder into the room. The powder revealed red laser beams in the room. An old school trick, but classic way of hindering someone from entering the room unauthorized, however you would think that Mr. Tracy could afford better security systems. Now the next task was to get into the room while avoiding the beams that released a separate alarm to the police and Mr. Tracy. Okay, he thought to himself. This is going to be easy. He slowly began moving into the room. His moves were quick and graceful, similar to an acrobat or a very good dancer. In real life he was neither, but he had been trained by one of the best and he was not ready to lose his hard-earned image with this job. When he was close enough to the desk, he turned on the computer. The screen changed and demanded a password to enter. He had not idea what Mr. Tracy would use as a password, and probably no one else would be able to guess it. He clicked on the hint option, where it said:

_The one I want to see again_

He could think of one person that Mr. Tracy wanted to see again. It was common knowledge about how much Mr. Tracy loves his deceased wife and his family, but his wife had been his rock and when she died a part of him died. However whenever he wrote Lucy or Lucille, all he got was an error on the password. If that wasn't the password then what could it be?

The easy way would be giving up, but he wasn't the type to give up that easily, he thought to himself. It was then he knew what the password was and wrote it and clicked enter. This time the computer allowed him entering. He grinned over the accomplishment and quickly searched for the document he wanted. When he finally found it, he pulled up his memory stick and transferred a copy of the document to the stick. It only took three seconds before he got what he was asked to require, and said:

"Target obtained, Mockingbird."

"About time, Canary. I thought for a second that you couldn't do it," the voice answered amused of himself. His partner was always the one who is carefree and likes to joke around, especially during work, but it also made work seem even more fun. "And you did it in fifteen minutes. That must be a new personal record. Anyway get out of there and let's pack up, so we can celebrate."

"If you mean celebrate with alcohol and girls, then I'm going to say no and go to bed."

"Come on dude. Both you and Sparrow are such party-poopers. You're young and have a whole life to sleep and be boring like when you're thirty and bored with life."

"Whatever man, I'm tired. So see you in a few minutes."

"Copy that, Canary," Mockingbird said before the line went quiet. Canary turned off the computer and slowly began walking through the beams and back to the hallway. Everything was good until suddenly all the alarms in the building were turned on and the loud sound of the sirens filled the building.

Crap, he thought in panic. Mockingbird must have turned on the alarms before he clarified or he must have pushed it accidently. Either way he was in deep water if he didn't get out of there before the police arrived and then the job failed miserable. So instead of taking the elevator down to the lobby he ran down the stairs. He needed to find a floor he could easily slip through and out of the building, however luck didn't seem to give him that plan going. He could immediately hear from the outside that the police had arrived and had already entered the building. He was a sitting duck in here and needed get out fast. The option he saw was jumping out of the window that was towards the alley, but the only problem was that doing so would cause a lot of attention to his location and there were also big chance he could get seriously hurt. He made his decision quick when he heard one policeman call out and was heading towards him. He jumped.

* * *

Canary must have had fates on his side, since he didn't meet the pavement. Instead he landed on the top of a car roof that was parked in the alley, which had lessened the fall and injuries to a minimum. The pain was bad, but not bad enough to stop him from getting away. Mockingbird yelled into the earpiece and said:

"OMG! Are you okay? What happened?"

Canary didn't answer instead ran out of the alley as quick as he could. And he had been right; the police did hear him jumping out of the window and was following after him. He needed to find the van where the others were in order to complete this job, if not then the whole job would be totally compromised. He could hear shouting getting closer and closer as he ran, but he quickly noticed the van and ran straight towards it. He used very bit of energy to make it to the van, and when he finally reached it the van door opened. A young teenage girl was standing there and pulled him inside and closed the door behind them. Canary handed her the memory stick and she accepted it with a grin on her face. They had accomplished their mission. However their celebration was cut short when the door opened once again and four policemen was standing there with their gun aimed at them. They shouted:

"FREEZE! You are under arrest."

After that moment everything changed forever.

**.**

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**.**

**Okay, let me just say this is my first THB story and I hope you will like it. The idea just popped into my head and I just had to write it down. Anyway not sure how often this story will be updated due to my exams and school, but I will continue it. **


	2. Chapter 2

**2)**

To say Jeff Tracy was surprised was an understatement. He was practically shocked when he got the message that someone had broken into Tracy Enterprises in New York, but that wasn't the best part. It was a couple of teenagers that had broken in. At first he thought the whole thing was a bad prank from Gordon or something, but Detective Jensen clarified that this was not a prank. Detective Jensen asked if Jeff wanted to come over to see if he was missing something, in order to see if the police could charge them with theft together with breaking and entering. He told him that he would get there as fast he could and hang up the phone.

Jeff grabbed the bridge on the nose in tiredness and frustration. He couldn't understand why anyone would want to break into Tracy Enterprises, even more confused why a couple of teenagers would. Could it be a plot from his competition or what is something else?

His train of thought was quickly interrupted not only by a call from his second oldest son John Tracy on Thunderbird Five, but also his oldest son Scott Tracy.

"Dad? What's going on?" Scott asked his father, because he was worried about him; he had left in the middle of a game of water volleyball. Normally Scott wasn't worried if his father left all of the sudden because of work, but the look on his father's face said confused and worried. Scott thought at first it was about Alan, his youngest brother, but quickly discouraged that idea. His father wouldn't have that look if it was about Alan, even if he had done something bad. Also because he hadn't summoned Virgil or Gordon if that was the case.

"Let me put John on and then I will explain," Jeff said. He clicked on the accept button and the computer screen changed and John appeared on.

"Hey dad," John greeted with a small smile. "I noticed some disturbance on Tracy Enterprises in New York, but there wasn't any clear rapports on what the disturbance was."

Scott looked confused and turned his gaze toward his father, waiting impatiently on an explanation on what was going on. While John waited more patiently on his father, knowing that his father needed to take his own time in order to tell them what happened.

"Apparently someone broke into Tracy Enterprises," said Jeff. "And from what the police have told me, it was a couple of teenagers that broke in."

"But how in the world did a couple of teenagers manage to get in, let alone get out?" Scott asked furiously. "Its not possible."

"Do you know how they managed to get in or why they broke in?" John asked calmly.

"I wasn't told any details, but I was asked if I could come down and see if anything is missing," Jeff answered. Though he wanted to meet these people that managed to not only get into the building, but also managed to get out almost without getting caught. "I'm planning on leaving right now, but I hope I get to meet them and get our questions answered."

"We're coming with you," said both Scott and John at the same time. They also wanted to meet them, and get their questions answered, but they were quickly stopped from saying anything further.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I want to handle the situation with brains, not with brawn Scott. So I'm not taking you because of the last incident that ended with you being kept in custody for hitting a police officer. Besides I need you to stay here in case of an International Rescue mission," said Jeff.

"But dad…" Scott protested, however the protest was in vain. He knew that his father had already decided and they all knew that Scott could never win with the Tracy stubbornness that the rest of the family possessed, but his father was far most stubborn and determined then any of his sons, maybe with the exception of Alan.

"Dad may I suggest taking at least one of us with you, I mean it's a good thing to have some sort of back up just in case," suggested John. "Two is better than one."

Jeff thought about it. It did seem reasonable to have some reassurance with him in case he got to meet these teenagers and he lost his temper. After all he did manage to lose his temper often with Alan, especially after he had turned thirteen. Maybe he should take one of his sons, just in case.

"I agree with you John, and I think Gordon would be an excellent choice to bring in order to keep these kids calm around us," Jeff said. He looked at his two oldest sons, waiting for them to agree in his choice without complaint.

"It's fine dad," John agreed. "We keep things in order here, so take Gordon and go to New York."

"If you say so," Scott said conflicting. He didn't really agree with his dad on choice, but there was nothing he could do to change his father's mind. So he accepted his defeat.

Jeff nodded and rose from his chair, and said: "Then it's settled. Gordon and me leave for New York as quickly as possible and hopefully get our questions answered."

* * *

"I'm telling you, I was hired to break in to Tracy Enterprises," said Alan Tracy, more or less exasperated over Detective Jensen and Detective Manning's complete ignorance over what he was telling them as well as treating him like common criminal.

"Yes yes, we heard you the first few times you stated this, Mr. Shepard. However when we called up Mr. Tracy, he stated that he have never hired you nor have he ever heard about you and your business," said Detective Manning. Alan thought the whole situation far too blown up than it was necessary; especially with the police question him like he had robbed the Bank of London. He had already figured out their routine playing good-cop and bad-cop, and they were also failing miserably in extracting the information they really wanted from him.

"As I told you a thousand times before detectives, I wasn't hired by Mr. Tracy. His head of security, Lenny Kravitz, hired my crew and I to test Mr. Tracy's security. Make the call, and he will verify my employment."

"We'll do that while you sit tight and pray that Mr. Kravitz can vouch for you," said Detective Manning, who Alan nicknamed Bad-cop Ass due to his attitude and distrust, while he called Detective Jensen Good-cop Saint for his more understanding approach of him.

"We'll be right back, Mr. Shepard," said Detective Jensen. He and Detective Manning left the interrogation room.

Alan was glad that he wasn't asked more questions, at least about whom he was and who his family was. Not that he would tell them that he was really Jeff Tracy's son, since they would never believe him anyway, but because he didn't want them to know. It was bad enough to constantly live in his father and brother's shadows all his life, but being unable to have a say in your own life is even more miserable. So he left and from then used the alias Luke Shepard, after his mother's first name and his own middle name, everywhere he went. He has been on his own for three years without having any contact with his family or friends, and considering how things could have been he was doing well with a few exceptions here and there. Of course he wished that he didn't have to end up in a police station that often whenever his job required him to do so.

The door opened and Detective Manning appeared. Great, Alan thought to himself. Now he get to spend more alone time with Bad-cop Ass, that's very guys dream to spend time with an authority with a big attitude and a personality to match. Detective Manning sat down on the chair across from him, and said grimly:

"Mr. Kravitz verified that he indeed did hire your crew to test Mr. Tracy's facilities, so we can't charge you for breaking and entering for now. However Mr. Tracy and his son wishes to talk to you in order to clear this mess up."

Alan didn't really want to see or talk to his dad or whichever brother he brought along on this trip, but he figured that it was either go along and show collaboration or get sent back to the cell with no hint what's going to happen after this. So he nodded as an acceptance and the door once again opened. This time it was Detective Jensen together with his dad and Gordon, who walked into the room and also took a seat across from him.

And let the show begin.

**.**

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**The last message still stands, but I just had to write down the next chapter while I was still on the roll. Thank you for your reviews and support, and I hope this chapter is to your satisfaction. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**3)**

Jeff was pleased over that he was granted permission to see the mastermind of whoever broke into Tracy Enterprises, but the only condition to this was if this person accepted to see him. He stood in front of a window that made it possible to watch in on the interrogation, together with Gordon and Detective Jensen that had called earlier. Jeff found it strange that he looked at this boy that had been an active part in the break in, but the boy didn't show any clear features of how he looked like through the window. It was almost like he knew that someone was watching him and tried to avoid showing his face. Maybe he has been through this sort of treatment before? As Detective Manning explained to this Mr. Shepard about Jeff and Gordon wanting to meet him and ask him some questions, Mr. Shepard's body stiffened by the question and almost immediately relaxed like nothing had happened. This made Jeff even more curious about this boy, but he didn't get more time to think about since Detective Jensen lead them out of the room and straight into the interrogation room.

* * *

They sat down in front of a table across from Mr. Shepard, so they could have closer look of whom exactly they are dealing with. What had surprised him was to find this boy looking strangely familiar to Alan. It was actually mirror reflection of him, but Jeff noticed certain traits this boy in front of him had not in common with his youngest son. They shared the same blonde hair, blue eyes and physique, but this boy's facial features were sharper and more intense than his son's innocent and childlike features. This boy's hair was scraggy and unkempt, barely hiding a small scar on his temporal. Jeff also noticed a band-aid on his boy's right cheek and a tattoo of a bird on his right hand. Jeff wanted to believe that this boy sitting in front of him was his wayward son, but quickly discouraged that thought. Even though this boy shared many characteristics with his son, when he looked into this boy's eyes and saw a pair of distant cold eyes with no recognition of him, he knew that this boy wasn't. If there was one thing that Jeff was certain on, was that Alan couldn't act if his life depended on it and he usually wore his feelings on his sleeve. This boy was cold and enigmatic.

"I'm glad that you were willing to meet me Mr. Shepard," Jeff said calm and collected as possible, not wanting to scare the boy off before he answered some questions.

"It was either that or get thrown back into the cell," Mr. Shepard said short. "It was an easy decision. But please call me Luke, Mr. Shepard sounds like my dad."

"Okay, Luke. I already heard a little about your work from Mr. Kravitz, but tell me what is it you really do for a living?"

"I do different odd jobs. Nothing specific really."

"Can you please elaborate what you mean by odd jobs?"

"My crew and me are sort of hired troubleshooters, meaning we do variety of tasks like conducting environmental surveys and testing security systems. Though we have done ordinary jobs as well in the beginning," explained Luke.

"And your crew consists a Mr. Danny Treville and a Miss Sarah Rodgers, correct?" asked Detective Jensen.

"That is correct," said Luke, confirming that the other suspects in custody were indeed part of his crew. "Though they were not part of this, I acted alone on this job with no help from neither of them."

"Do you mean to say that you broke in alone and your crew had no involvement in this job?" said Detective Manning callously. Jeff knew that Detective Manning was trying to get this boy into deep waters, but the feeling this boy gave was more about that he cared and protected his crew instead of trying to safe his own skin. He would bet that this boy would do anything to keep them safe from the authorities.

"Yes."

"If you are hired as a security tester, why you did you break in without Mr. Tracy knowledge?"

"Because it's part of the security testing that the owners are not aware about the testing or when it happens. We need to check the security as it was original set and test it like a break in was actually happening, in order to make the improvements based on knowledge and experience, rather than a feeling in the dark."

"Aren't you a little too young to do this kind of work?" asked Gordon, after being so long quiet. Jeff was suspicious about Gordon, asking the boy such a question most likely hits a nerve. Then again Jeff found it very strange that a nineteen-year-old boy with a crew of even younger kids was doing this sort of work. Don't they have some sort of education or family that worries about them?

Luke glanced over to look at Gordon, and for a second Jeff thought the boy would lose his temper since he tighten his fits like he was ready to throw a punch at his son. However the boy didn't show any anger or attempts on releasing his temper, instead he cooled down and calmly answered the question, but with a rather poisonous tone:

"I don't believe so nor does my crew, because to us age is only a number. If we have the knowledge and experience then we should be able to do anything without being prevented due to our age, but if you want to talk about suitable age-related work then maybe you can explain to me what you did when you were my age?"

The room went silent. Normally that sort of question would be considered innocent to ask, but knowing that Gordon had been working as an International Rescue member since he was sixteen, it wasn't exactly something that neither one of them wanted to reveal due to their involvement was kept strictly confidential. Still it made both Gordon and Jeff shocked knowing that this boy seemed aware that his answer had taken us by surprise, and Jeff was almost certain that Luke had used it as ammunition in order to get back at Gordon's question. But how could he have known that they would react this way over his question?

"Do you need a moment, Mr. Tracy?" said Luke, almost tauntingly. "Because I think I need a break from all these questions."

Jeff looked at Gordon and then at the two detectives to see what they wanted to do. Usually Jeff knew what he was supposed to do in these situations, but meeting and talking to Luke made him uncertain how to treat him. In many ways Luke reminded him of Alan, but at the same time a totally different person. Jeff didn't find any reasonable to explanation to why other than that he missed his wayward son terribly, hoping that he would return home where he belonged. Only time would tell.

The detectives rose up from their seats and simply told Luke to sit tight and Gordon and Jeff followed them out of the interrogation room in silence.

* * *

"Mr. Tracy, I think this is seriously a bad idea," said Detective Manning. "This guy has already appeared on multiple police reports all over the country, even in few places in Europe."

"I don't care, Detective Manning. I still wishes to have a few words with him, alone preferably," argued Jeff.

Gordon was only half listening to the argument between Detective Manning and his dad about getting more time to talk to Luke Shepard. The detectives didn't want them to have any more contact with the guy, before they could properly charge him with anything they could find. Apparently they had some witch-hunt to do, and Gordon was already bored out of his mind, so he slipped silently away from the scene and kept wandering around the station. Maybe he could find a place to pull of his recently planned prank on one of the policemen?

He walked passed one of the holding cells and stopped. He noticed two teenagers at the corner of the cell; one boy and one girl were sitting there chatting between themselves without caring if anyone else heard them.

"Do you think Luke has everything under control?" asked the girl tiredly. "They tend to treat him like a common criminal while they treat us as innocent children not fully aware of the situation." The girl was very pretty with long dark hair, chocolate brown eyes and slightly tanned skin. She was also very short, probably five feet tall more or less. Gordon assumed she was seventeen-eighteen years old and based on her clothing, which appear to be very old, she was probably a runaway teenager. However Gordon got this feeling that despite being a runaway, she was certainly not stupid.

"I'm sure he is fine Sarah. Its Luke we're talking about, he always has something up his sleeve," said the boy amused, not even showing a slight of worry over that his friend were being interrogated by the police. The boy was in comparison both taller and paler than the girl with short brown hair, blue eyes and more athletic physique. He was also around the same age, maybe a little older, but he appeared to be more easygoing and happy-go-lucky than the girl and Gordon thought the boy would have been arrested for annoying the police instead breaking and entering.

"Like he did when he had to escape through the window because you switched the alarm back on while he was still in there, Danny," said Sarah exasperated. "You couldn't have waited to call this girl to after we're done with job, I mean she would still believe you were Ashton Kutcher one hour later."

"Do you know how long it took to perfectly mimic him and make her believe I was him? Three days!" said Danny dramatically. "Now I will never see her again because she would think I stood her up instead of being arrested, which I can't explain to her unless she likes guys with arrest charges on his criminal records.

"Whatever you say Pea-brain, but let's stop this conversation for now since it seems like someone is listening on our conversation," said Sarah and turned her attention at Gordon. She pointed with one of her fingers at Gordon. "You! Haven't you parents taught you its rude to listen to other people's conversations?"

Gordon felt his body quickly stiffen by the girl's accusation. Now he had the full attention from both of them, and usually it meant it wasn't a good thing. He tried to explain, but he found himself breathless to speak and just wanted to leave. But that train had already left the station.

"I'm guessing you are Mr. Tracy's second youngest son Gordon Tracy, right?" said Sarah accusingly.

Gordon only nodded carefully over the question, since he could trust himself to speak properly against her. He felt nervous and sweaty talking to this girl, something Gordon couldn't find a logically explanation to why, but he figured that it was probably best to roll with it for now.

"You better head back to your dad and ask the detectives to check on Luke."

"WWhy?" Gordon stammered. He couldn't understand why this girl told him to leave. Did she know something neither the detectives nor his dad knew about?

"I know Luke, and the one thing you should know about him is that he has a way of drawing trouble to himself."

"Like that time when we were being hunted down by the Russian mob or that other time when we discovered that drug ring in one of the places we worked for. Good times good times," said Danny ecstatic. It was almost felt like he enjoyed being caught up into dangerous situations, Gordon thought. There is definitely something wrong with that kid. Still what Danny and Sarah had told him made Gordon feel worried that they might be right, so he left and hurried to find his dad. Hopefully those two was overreacting about Luke being a trouble magnet, but knowing how Alan used to be a trouble magnet. Gordon didn't want to take any chances.

* * *

Alan was sitting in the interrogation room, just looking at the wall while being bored to death. Why couldn't the police have made this room more enjoyable while he had to sit here and wait for them to decide what to do with him? He guessed they had better things to do than to entertain a nineteen-year-old who may or may not be considered a criminal at the moment. At least he was glad that he had managed to fool his dad, about who he was. Honestly Alan couldn't act, but he was certainly getting the hang of the act of lying perfectly. Even though he felt guilty of lying to his dad and to Gordon, but he wasn't ready to return to. Alan wasn't even sure if he would ever be ready to return when a large part of him didn't even want to come home.

His train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted when the door opened and a police officer entered the room. Alan wasn't suspicious over that the detectives might have sent someone to keep an eye on him while he was alone in the room, but something about the way the man walked made Alan almost paranoid. It was quick and silent, but if you listened very closely you could hear a small clicking sound like a hard object was moving under a jacket pocket.

Well, this can't be good, Alan thought to himself as he followed the man with his eyes. He was prepared that something was about to happen, after all the trouble always seems to find him. The policeman pulled out his gun and aimed it straight at Alan's forehead and said:

"Give me the program or I will put a bullet straight through your skull!"


	4. Chapter 4

**4)**

You would think that when someone holds a gun at you, you would be so scared for your life that you can't think. That wasn't the case for Alan. To him the fear didn't shut him down, rather woke him up to fight. After all with everything that have happened up till now there isn't a lot that haven't threaten his or his family's life, so there wasn't much in this world that could terrify him. That's why when this supposed policeman held a gun aimed at his forehead, it didn't make Alan feel slightly worried.

"What are you talking about?" Alan asked, pretending that he was a stupid kid that most people assumed he was when they first meet him. Alan had already assumed for a certain time now that there had been someone after him, but he had hoped that he was being paranoid or suffering from an overactive imagination. All Alan could do was to buy some time before this guy would fulfill the threat. Hopefully someone would notice all the noise before he had no choice other than to do something drastic, which he rather not do if he could help himself.

"Don't play dumb. You know exactly what I'm talking about!" the man snapped. "Now tell or I have to kill you and tell the Hood that you failed to give us the program."

Okay, now the situation has officially turned to the worse, especially when he heard that name of the one who was seeking the program, Alan thought. Now it was official, there is no way he was going to give it to HIM, even if he had to lose his life for the sake of it.

"I don't know what you are talking about. What program?"

"Okay, last chance kid. Give me the program!" the man yelled. He loaded his gun and was just minutes from fire without caring if he got what he were seeking or not.

Alan had to do something fast or else he would be end up dead on the floor.

* * *

Jeff was uncertain over what Gordon had told him about Luke being in trouble. Sure, there was something about him that made him an easy target to trouble, but there was no reason that he could cause trouble inside a police station right? The detectives didn't seem to believe Gordon either, and even less after hearing that he had spoken to Luke's crew.

"I'm telling you that you should check on Luke, since his crew stated that he has a way of getting into trouble," Gordon argued.

"There are already someone keeping an eye on him," Detective Jensen insured. Trying to take a more calm approach on the matter, however his partner didn't share the same point of approach.

"They are couple of criminals, so of course they would tell you that Mr. Shepard was in trouble," Detective Manning stated. He didn't trust criminals; especially he didn't trust those kids. Being hired troubleshooters is cheapest excuse to avoid jail time. "Besides they only said he was a trouble magnet, that doesn't' prove that he is in trouble."

Then the sound of a firing gun interrupted Detective Manning from arguing further with the Tracys. Everyone in the station went down on the floor to take cover, in case more gunshots fired. They needed to keep control over situation, even though they had no clue of who fired and if someone got hurt. Still the gunshot didn't seem to have come from the main room of the station that they were currently occupying. Where did the shot come from?

"Do believe me now?" Gordon hissed at his dad and the two detectives that looked more stunned than anything else. Jeff nodded absentminded and stared at the two detectives to see if they had made some kind of a plan about what to do with their current situation. Obviously the shot came not from here, Jeff thought. Most likely happened somewhere in the station, but not to far from where they were. Jeff remembered that the sound of the shot had come from the area where the interrogation rooms resided. Maybe there was something about this theory about Luke Shepard being a trouble magnet after all?

Another shot was fired and this time Jeff was certain it was from one of the interrogation rooms. Both Detective Jensen and Detective Manning stood up and said determined:

"You two stay here."

Both Jeff and Gordon looked like they wanted to argue, but knowing what they do for a living require that everybody do their job. They couldn't intervene in police work no matter how much they wanted to, especially after the incident with Alan.

They quietly nodded and the detectives hurried out of the room, not with a slightest clue about what they were heading into, but whatever was going on it was not good.

* * *

Alan was heaving deep breath as he had used much energy trying to avoid a bullet from hitting him. Luckily for him that the detectives hadn't cuffed him to the table, so he was able to use it as cover. Of course the Hood had to send a minion with itchy trigger fingers, Alan thought to himself. It's just another day of his life with someone either wanting to use him or kill him, just fantastic.

"Hey Kid," the minion said confidently. "How about you give me that program now or else you are going to get really hurt."

Alan didn't have much of a plan, since he didn't have the time or the weapons to fight. The police had stripped him off his Army Swiss knife and his lock-picking tools earlier, and at the worst timing when he needed it the most. All he had on him was the stone thrower device he had made when he was fourteen. Well, it's better than nothing. Alan figured he could at least by time for those stupid policemen to finally get their butts into business.

Another shot was fired at the table, far to close to where Alan was sitting in cover.

"I won't ask again. Give me the program!"

"How about you put a sock on it and tell your boss that I don't have this program, and even if I did have it I wouldn't give it to scumbags like you," Alan yelled. He shot a stone just above the table, but it was more shooting in the dark than anything else. He couldn't see if he managed to hit the minion or not, but based on the yelp he heard he must have hit something.

"Okay Kid. The gloves are off, and you're dead."

The goon shot another bullet at the table and went straight through, Alan was glad that this time the goon had not been as close to hit him as the first bullet. Alan once again shot a stone, and this time he was certain that he had hit the goon after hearing a groan that certainly did not come from Alan. He leaned over to the right end of the table to see where he had hit and saw the goon rubbing his left knee in pain. The goon tried to once again shoot, but this time he was interrupted when the door opened and an army of policemen entered.

"Drop your weapon and hands in the air!"

Alan dropped the stone thrower and put his hands in the air, since he didn't want the situation to be even messier than it already was. Unfortunately the goon wasn't as collaborating as Alan was.

"If I'm going down, then you will go down with me Kid," the goon said before drawing his gun and fired straight at Alan who was standing up from the table. Few seconds after the shot, one of the policemen shot the goon and fell down on the floor. The police surrounded the fallen villain, to keep him captive and to see what kind of medical attention he would need. What didn't occur to them before moments later was the unmoving boy who was lying on the floor not making any sound of life.

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**Here's the new chapter, I hope you like it. Again I still have exams to do, so I won't be able to update before around June. Sorry for the inconvenience, but that's life. Thank you for the reviews, follows and favorites, and please continue. Yours sincerely xXrebelgirl07Xx :) **


	5. Chapter 5

**5)**

Jeff lifted his head due the sound of a gunshot; of course he shouldn't be surprised because of the situation he and Gordon was in. However there had been a long between the gunshots and the last one seemed more terrifying, what was more odd was that he felt something was wrong. He turned to look at his son, who was sitting next to him and looked like was about to get sick. Jeff could understand his son's reaction since Gordon has never really been this close to being a victim of a dangerous situation due to their job being the ones to save others. The fact that Gordon felt this helpless didn't make Jeff feel any better.

Then the door open with a big slam and about ten policemen entered. They were shouting to each other about calling an ambulance and call families. Gordon and Jeff looked at each other with confusion written on their face. What had exactly happened?

Jeff saw Detective Jensen and Detective Manning entering the room asked the other policemen loudly:

"Is the ambulance on the way?

"Yes, I already called their listed guardian," answered one of the officers and looked down at his note pad before looking up again, "Mr. Coop Treville and informed him of the situation. He should be here shortly."

"Sir, do you wish to talk to the other suspects to see if they know why this happened," another policeman asked Detective Manning. Detective Manning looked like he had lemons in mouth after hearing that suggestion. Jeff guessed that Detective Manning didn't want to do it, but he swallowed and nodded. The policeman left the room and Jeff took the opportunity to ask Detective Jensen what was going on.

"Your son was right about Luke Shepard being in trouble. Apparently he was ambushed by one of the senior officers here, Mr. Combs. Luke was held at gunpoint by Mr. Combs and shot him, but its looks like he only managed to shot his shoulder. We're waiting on an ambulance to take Mr. Shepard to the hospital."

"What about Mr. Combs? What's going to happen to him?" Jeff questioned. He couldn't understand why a grown-up man wanted to harm a teenager, who did odd jobs for living.

"We're not sure of anything at the moment, but hopefully we will get into the bottom of this," said Detective Jensen before his attention was focused on the door, where two teenagers was standing next to a police officer.

This must be Luke's crew, Jeff thought as he studied them. It wasn't enough that the situation was already confusing; nothing seemed to make sense to him. What was about these kids that made them such a threat?

"Where is Luke?" the girl asked worriedly. "Is he okay? I guess not since it is Luke, but happened?"

"He got shot and is currently in our care until the ambulance arrive," Detective Manning shrugged, almost like he didn't care what would happen with Luke.

"What!" the girl shrieked. "You can't bring him to the hospital."

The detectives didn't seem to like being told what to do, especially from a teenage girl.

"Why can't they take him to the hospital?" Jeff asked before neither part would start a fight, which was something they didn't need at the moment.

"Luke hates the hospital, and if you want to interrogate him then there is no need to traumatize him even more than he already is," the girl answered without taking her eyes from Detective Manning. She was probably very pissed at the detectives for not being able to keep her friend safe, not that Jeff could blame her anger on the detectives. He had a good share of dislike on the detectives after Alan disappeared. "Besides I have medical experience, so can I see him?"

Again no one seemed very keened on the idea of letting a teenage girl examine Luke's wound, but they really couldn't risk making the guy uncooperative further down in their investigation, since nothing technically pointed him or his crew as criminals.

"Fine, but we're going with you. So no tricks," Detective Manning grumbled. "Take your friend with you, we can't have him roaming around bothering the other officers with his presence."

This could become very interesting, Jeff thought to himself.

* * *

Alan was sitting on a chair next to one policewoman, who was making sure that his wound was being properly cared for before someone with medical experience could stitch him up. The shock from the bullet had left him unconscious for a couple of minutes, and when he woke up policemen was hovering over him like bees to honey. Alan had felt suffocated by this kind of treatment, mostly because it has been a long time since someone had done it and also because he couldn't stand it. It reminded him too much of his family.

Alan was so lost in thought that he didn't right away noticed the door opened and saw his friends standing there together with the detectives, his dad and Gordon. He smiled when he saw Danny and Sarah, and weaved his hand and said:

"Hey guys. Nice day to get shot, right?"

Sarah walked up next to him and slapped her hand on the back of his head hard. Danny stood there with a big smirk on his face, enjoying the sight of his friend punishing someone other than himself.

"You're an idiot, you know that," she said hotly. "I have enough idiotic tendencies from Danny and I don't really need more of them from you too."

"Technically this wasn't my fault" Alan defended himself. "It's not like I asked the guy to shot me."

"Knowing you I'm not entirely sure about that. Now let me look at your shoulder before these gentlemen decides to send you to the hospital."

Alan tensed up when he heard the word hospital. To be simple, he detested hospitals to the point that he would rather go around having infections from his wounds than going near a hospital. After his mom died in the avalanche, Alan had spent a couple of months in the hospital because of his injuries from the accident. He wasn't sure what was worst at the time, his injuries or that his family had almost fallen apart after that incident. It even was horrible when Gordon had ended up in the hospital after his hydrofoil accident, where he was trapped to a hospital bed for over six months. Nothing good happens when you're sent to the hospital.

Sarah examined his wound, mumbling something about damage and solution. Alan sat there waiting for her treatment, since he trusted her with his medical care unconditionally, sometimes even more than he would with his older brother Virgil, the family medic, because even though she was young she had a knack for the medical field.

"Okay, it looks like the bullet avoided any bones. So we only need to pull it out and stitch it up," Sarah leaned back and looked at him. "So are you feeling up for it?"

"Just do it," Alan said restrained, pretending that he wasn't worried about pulling a bullet out while he was still very much conscious.

Sarah turned to ask the detectives to get some equipment in order to do the procedure; they quickly went and retrieved everything she needed. Then she turned her attention to Danny and Gordon and ordered them to keep him still when she pulled the bulled out and stitched him up.

"Are you ready?" she asked, holding a pair of pliers in her right hand, as she was about to start.

Alan nodded, not trusting his own voice to confirm that he felt the exact opposite from ready. Sarah leaned in silent and carefully, while Alan was twitching up from small fear until Danny said casually:

"So Canary, what's worst pulling a bullet out or crashing on a concrete wall?"

"Bullet…Ahh Ouch!" Alan yelled out in mid-sentence. God, this do really hurt like you see them in the movies, Alan thought as Sarah quickly stitched his wound. "What was that for?"

"To keep you distracted," Danny smirked. "And also because I wanted to know if pulling a bullet hurt more than you crashing a car into a wall."

"First of all, I was having fun speeding up the car before I crashed. Secondly, I was unconscious at the time to feel the pain. Thirdly, you are seriously crazy," said Alan.

"I try," Danny shrugged his shoulders carelessly over what people was saying about his state of mind. "Makes life more interesting you know."

"All done," Sarah leaned back with pleased smile on her face. "You should just let your shoulder heal, so no heavy work for now. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Doc," Alan mockingly saluted as a response and stood up from the chair.

"Good, now will you tell us why there was some maniac shooting you this time?" Sarah said in her authority voice, which meant that no jokes. Alan sighed and said:

"I don't know, he kept asking me about some program, which I don't know anything about, and said that if I didn't hand it over to him, he would kill me."

Alan was aware that he didn't give out the whole truth, being surrounded by the police, his dad and Gordon, but he wasn't going to tell them so they could peak more into his life than they already have. However Sarah and Danny knew that he wasn't being completely honest.

"Did he say anything about who he worked for or why he wanted it?" Detective Jensen asked politely.

"No, he didn't tell me why, but he did mention something about he kill me and tell the Hood that I failed to give him the program."

Both Jeff and Gordon stiffened hearing that name, and all attention was faced upon the young teenager.

"Are you sure he said the Hood?" Jeff questioned sternly.

Alan nodded and the two older Tracys held a worried look on their face. Both Sarah and the detectives noticed the expressions and Sarah said determined, "Mr. Tracy, detectives can I have a word with you out in the hall?"

* * *

"What did you want to talk about, Miss Rodgers?" Jeff asked once they were out in the hall.

"After what happened today I feel very unsure about the police inability to keep Luke safe, despite being in their custody all day," Sara looked at the detectives with a belittle expression, which said I'm pissed off. "If this lunatic the Hood comes after him, will I find him dead next time? They already found him with no problem and even less problem doing in here it public, so I'm asking if it is possible that you could keep him safe on your island."

Jeff was stunned by the suggestion, he didn't know how she had come across this information about his life, but asking him to keep a criminal on his island was insane. The detectives thought the same as well when they began arguing with her, saying something about that they couldn't be sure if he really was in danger and be an inconvenience to the Tracy family.

"I know I'm asking a lot from you, Mr. Tracy. But from what I have gathered you wish to speak more to him and about his work, so let this be an opportunity to do that. And if you feel like you can't handle it or he causes some kind of trouble towards you and your family, then you send him back," Sarah asked.

"They will find him, and you wishes me to put my family in danger," Jeff said fiercely. Now he had lost his temper, the thought of putting his family in danger and compromising International rescue, he wouldn't do it even if he were curious about the boy.

"They won't find him that easily, and besides what if this was one of your sons," Sarah pleaded. "Wouldn't you do anything to keep them safe from harm?"

She had him there, Jeff thought. He knew it and there was no way to argue against her, she wanted to keep her friend safe until they got to the bottom of this and he had no right to go against that. Besides if he did something, Jeff could always send him back and no one would be crying about.

"Alright, I'll will bring him home and keep him safe."

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**New chapter, and I hope everybody likes it. Thank you for the reviews, followings, favorites etc. I'm already on the next chapter, but I also have to write on my other stories in the meantime. So review, follow, favorite or whatever, and I'll be as quick as I can with the next chapter. **

**Sincerely yours xXrebelgirl07Xx **


	6. Chapter 6

**6) **

"No absolutely not," Alan bellowed, yelling out loud despite having no reason to. Both Sarah and Danny knew that he would refuse the offer, and they also knew the reason why.

"Canary, we think it's the best thing to do with the situation," Danny said, attempting to ease up his friend's tension over the suggestion.

"Besides they are still your family, they will be able to keep you safe," Sarah followed calmly.

"If there is one thing you need to know about the Tracy family, they have more pride and stubbornness than normal, which means being safe is actually being caged with no room for escape," Alan exasperated, pulling his fingers through his hair in annoyance. He had been lucky that neither dad and Gordon had recognized him, sure it was hurt that they couldn't even realize they had been speaking to their son/brother, but after how they had left things three years ago, Alan wasn't even least interested in returning to his family.

"And you are not proud and stubborn," Sarah said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Look I know that you don't want to go back, and honestly I don't blame you, but until we are sure that nobody is trying to kill you, you need to stay somewhere far away where it's not easy to find you."

"I get that, but what if they find out? Then what?" Alan said disappointed. "They will for sure never trust me or let me leave again."

"Al, don't worry about it. We'll think of something if that happens, you know we always do," said Danny, putting one reassuring hand on Alan 'good' shoulder.

"Besides don't you want to see your friends and family again, after all it has been three years things might have changed."

"It's also a great opportunity to meet up with that girl you are in love with," Danny smirked.

"W-what are you talking about?" Alan said nervously. He had told them about his friendship with Fermat and Tin-Tin, but he had never openly admitted his love for Tin-Tin. He knew about his feelings before he left, but never had the courage to tell her because of his situation with his family and his thoughts about not being good enough for her.

"You know that girl you always sends jewelry to every Christmas and birthday."

"I always send presents to them, even though I never gave them a direct clue that it was from me. So they have probably thrown them away," Alan answered.

"Anyway will you go with them, at least for now?" Sarah asked with slightly worried face.

Alan was unsure if this was a good idea, but they pleaded their case and he didn't see he had any other choice than to accept it.

"Fine, I'll go. Maybe I get lucky and I find out I have new sister-in-laws or niece and nephews to spoil," Alan smiled slightly.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to visit home, at least they wouldn't know he was coming home.

* * *

This is really a very bad idea, Gordon thought as he was sitting his seat, on the way back to the island. Luke was sitting across from him with a bandana covering his eyes. Dad had taking precautions and didn't want the guy to know anything about where, how and when they arrived at the island. Gordon thought the guy would have argued about this treatment, but surprisingly Luke bother to argue with him, and silently sat there with a bored expression on his face for hours. A swim would have been nice just about now; Gordon longed to return back to the swimming pool to relieve stress, mostly from the stress that going to come. If he knew his older brothers right, they would certainly not take the new about their 'guest' nicely, at least not Scott and Virgil.

"Hey," Luke said suddenly, stopping Gordon's train of thoughts. Gordon wasn't sure what do, Luke was around the same age as Alan and they had always gotten along somewhat, being the Troublesome-Two as their older siblings called them. Despite Luke looking like Alan didn't mean it was him, he would know his younger brother anywhere.

"What is it," Gordon asked, slightly guarded over Luke's sudden wish to talk. What was he trying to pull?

"Talk to me, ask me something, anything to keep me from being bored to death."

"Emm…" Gordon was insecure how to start a conversation with teenage criminal. He looked at anything that could give him an idea what to say. Then he noticed the tattoo on his hand.

"Cool tattoo, what kind of bird is it?"

"It's a thunderbird," Luke said casually. "I've always liked what the thunderbird represented, and besides who isn't a fan of International Rescue."

That definitely shut Gordon up, did this guy know about International Rescue or was he bating him? Gordon was uncertain what to say next, but kept on going to see if he could learn something else.

"Wow, I guess your parents loved it when you got the tattoo yourself."

Luke stiffened by the comment, almost like he was guilty of something. Gordon took the chance to poke further.

"My parents don't know about it, mostly because I haven't seen them in a while," Luke said quietly. Luke shifted uncomfortable in his seat. Obviously family was some sort of a sore subject for him, Gordon noticed. So he decided not to push the subject any further for now, and he better talk to dad and guys about it later.

Luke began the conversation again, but this time away from the family subject.

"I know it's not exactly an ordinary bird to tattoo on your body, but it was either a tattoo or get your hand cut off."

"What!"

"You don't want to know," Luke shook his head, dismissing the memory about the origin of the tattoo.

Gordon wanted to ask further, but his dad entered and interrupted the conversation, telling them they were about to land.

* * *

The rest of the Tracy clan, with the exception of John and 'Alan', was in the living room doing what they normally did after a rescue mission, they relaxed. Scott and Virgil were physically drained after the rescue in Brazil, where a couple of mountain climbers had managed to get them selves stuck without safety. Tin-Tin had been assisting by controlling Thunderbird 2 while the guys saved the climbers, with Brains and Fermat was keeping things under control back on the island. Though the rescue wasn't difficult, but when one of the climbers is dangling between the rescue platform and high mid-air things get complicated. Still they managed to get it under control, and safely brought them to the local hospital to get them checked before returning home.

Scott was beginning to get worried about his dad and younger brother; they had left for New York two days ago and still haven't given much update except for arrival and departures. It was driving Scott mad with no knowing anything, and paced back and forth between the living room and the kitchen. Everybody knew that Scott was very overprotective over his family, but with him pacing it was starting to annoy people. More specific Virgil and Tin-Tin who was sitting on the sofa, trying to draw/read, but couldn't possibly concentrate with Scott's pacing.

"Scott?" Virgil said, after finally lost his patience. Scott stopped pacing and stood in the middle of the living room with his attention turned towards his younger brother.

"Yeah?"

"Can you do us a favor and stop pacing like a neurotic hen?" Virgil said pleasant, with a hint of annoyance hiding in his voice. "You are starting to get on everyone's nerves and we just got back from a rescue and we are tired. So with you pacing back and forth is actually stressing people out."

"Sorry, but I'm just worried about dad and Gordon," Scott sighed. "We haven't heard anything from them since they told us they were coming home, and then I start to think about what happened three years ago."

Virgil grew sad over remembering Alan, who ran away from home and haven't made any contact with them during the three years he have been gone. If the Tracy family ever truly regretted was how they handled Alan. Alan was the youngest and the baby of the family, so of course they would be protective with him, however Alan never seemed to understand the motives and instead just push away resulting him running away. Virgil could still remember his younger brother who used to listen to his piano playing before going to sleep every night, just so the nightmares wouldn't come. It was hard to believe his baby brother was not a baby anymore, but nineteen year-old living a different life away from his family.

"I know how you feel Scott, but there is no need to worry," Virgil comforted, standing up from the sofa and his hand on his older brother's shoulders. "They will come home, and eventually Alan will come home too. We just have to be patient and welcome him back with open arms."

"I know. Thanks Virgil."

Everyone else including Tin-Tin, Fermat, Brains, Onaha and Kyrano smiled, knowing that they shouldn't worry and that everything will turn out to be okay once things are settled between Alan and the rest of the family.

Then the radio call came from Tracy One, asking for permission to land and Brains hurried out to the control room to make sure everything was ready for landing. Meanwhile Scott and Virgil was excited to have their dad and younger brother home, so they hurried down to the hangar to meet up with them.

* * *

Alan was beginning to get nervous, not as nervous when he saw his dad again, but nervous to seeing his other brothers who was almost carbon copies of his dad in looks and personality. He was sure that he wouldn't be able to meet John, due to him being on Thunderbird 5, but then again he would be the most likely to recognize Alan because of his quiet and observant nature. Hopefully he could manage to stay here without trouble coming along to the party, but Alan was sure that with him being here trouble always seemed to find him.

"Luke, we have landed," his dad said. "So we can take of the bandana now." With slow movements Alan felt the cloth over his eyes was removed, and he slowly opened his eyes to get used to the light after being in the dark for so long.

"Come, let's get you settled in before you meet everyone."

Alan nodded; he didn't trust his voice at the moment especially now that he was here where his mannerisms and habits could be easily recognized and screw everything up about his identity. So he followed his dad out of the plane and noticed that Gordon had already gone out and was greeted by Scott and Virgil. When they noticed him on the plane stairs, their eyes widen and shouted:

"ALAN?!"

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**Here you go, your new chapter. I have gotten some reviews about when Alan's identity will be exposed to his family, and to answer that I must say not in a while. Because there is going to be some drama between Alan and the rest of the family before that happens, and also including the threat from the Hood. So please be patient, because I have a feeling that this a good story and worth the wait. Thanks again for your reviews/followings/favorites etc. I will hopefully have a chapter out soon ****enough.**

**xXrebelgirl07Xx **


	7. Chapter 7

**7) **

Alan's eyes were cool and calm as they rested confidently on his older brothers, though on the inside he was having a serious breakdown. They know, but they can't know unless I don't do something quick, Alan thought in panic to himself. He didn't have any idea how to convince them, he figured that he couldn't lie completely about who he was otherwise they were bound to notice something was off with him. Luckily his dad intervened before Alan got a chance to makeup a possible lie, and said seriously: "Boys, I want you to meet Luke. He will be staying with us while his situation is being cleared up in."

Both Scott and Virgil looked like a couple of deer's that was about to be hit by headlights. Like they couldn't apprehend what their dad was telling them. Scott quickly reestablished himself and asked the million-dollar question, "Why? I mean why would a kid need to stay with us and most of all who is this kid anyway?"

"How about I explain everything with everyone else present in the living room?" Jeff suggested before leading Alan out of the hangar. Of course, Alan didn't need an escort, but the situation called that he played stupid in front of his family. He was worried about Fermat and Tin-Tin, they would surely notice something was off with him, and they weren't so judgmental about people. This was both a gift and a curse for Alan. Fermat and Tin-Tin always was able to keep up with him and his bad temper, and that is a talent itself, and managed to see behind all the anger and stubbornness to see what kind of person he really was. But this ability might be a bad thing if they began noticing something about him that could reveal his identity. I hope for once in my life that I'm better at acting than what everyone else says I am when I actually needs to be, Alan thought as he entered the living room together with his dad, Scott, Virgil and Gordon.

* * *

Everyone is the room looked surprised and confused about him being there, they stared him down like an animal in a cage, ready to jump on him like a pack of wolves. Fermat and Brains looked at him with this analyzing look, almost trying to figure out how he was constructed like a machine while Kyrano and his family looked more insecure how to think of him. Alan was more worried about his brothers and his dad, because they didn't give much expression how they felt about him with the exception of Scott, being the overprotective and most cautious around people. Jeff coughed to get everyone's attention and began the introduction:

"This is Luke Shepard. He is a security tester. He also does other work, which includes problem-solving skills. His crew was hired by my head of security Lenny Kravitz to test the security to Tracy Enterprises."

"Wait, what?" Scott interrupted Jeff before he could explain any further. "You mean to tell us that this was the kid that broke into Tracy Enterprises. Why the hell did you bring him back her for?"

"Scott, I don't tolerate such language. So please avoid such words before I send you out," Jeff said sternly, both knowing that he was willing to do so if Scott didn't do as he was told. "And to answer your next question his life was threaten when he was still in police custody. So I was requested to keep him here safe from whoever is targeting him."

"Who is targeting him?" Virgil asked. "And why would you even agree to protect him?"

"It's the Hood who is after him."

The whole room became quiet, even though it was mostly quiet before Jeff told them with the exception from Scott and Virgil. They all knew what kind of threat the Hood represented to the family, especially to Jeff and Alan who was targeted by him on a personal plane. But why would he be after a kid that wasn't Alan?

"Mr. Tt-tracy, I c-can unders-stand why h-he would be after you, b-but do you k-know why he is after Mr. S-shepard?" Brains asked, puzzled over why the Hood would be interested in a teenage boy, who had no connections with the Tracys other than recently testing their facilities.

"I don't know Brains, but he claims that Mr. Shepard has a program of some kind that he want to get a hold off," Jeff said. "Apparently he required a senior police officer attacked him in the interrogation room and shot a bullet into his shoulder."

This must have ticked Scott off the edge and exclaimed, "Why do you want to put our family and the family business in such risk if the Hood is targeting him? This would only lead him straight to us like an invitation. He is not our responsibility dad, so send him back to where he came from?!"

Scott left the room in anger, not wanting to listen to anymore of this nonsense his dad was telling them. Virgil glanced between Scott and Jeff, unsure if he should stay to listen more or follow Scott to calm him down before he hurt himself. Ultimately decided to let his older brother be for now, meanwhile everyone else looked very uncomfortable about what happened especially Alan, who wasn't used to being so rejected by his older brother. Alan had always looked up to him and was for a time a second father figure, but it hurt him deeply that Scott didn't want him around even though he had no clue that it was his younger brother he was talking about.

Alan moved uncomfortably, while trying to act unaffected by the attention he was getting. He did his best to hide the hurt from his face, but obviously not good enough since Tin-Tin seemed more focused on him when he did. Almost like she knew right away there was something weird about him. I have to be more careful around her, Alan thought to himself.

Jeff tried to avoid further uncomfortable silence, so he turned his attention to Alan.

"Sorry about my oldest son Scott. He is only being protective for his family, so it's not personal," Jeff grabbed the bridge on his nose, like he always did when he was getting stressed or had an immense headache.

"Anyway this is my other son Virgil." As he pointed out Virgil, the twenty-five year old man with short brown hair and brown eyes. Virgil nodded uncomfortably before taking a seat on the couch.

"You have already gotten to know Gordon." The redhead twenty-three year old waved his hand and sat down next to Virgil. They started to whisper between each other, something Alan couldn't manage to hear clearly, but he could guess what they were talking about. Meanwhile Jeff continued to introduce him to the seventeen-year-old Fermat and nineteen-year-old Tin-Tin who was sitting on the couch across from the brothers. They smiled at Alan, actually gave him a happy welcome opposed to the Tracys. It was almost like they knew how uncomfortable and unwelcome he felt in his dad's home. Finally Jeff introduced Brains, Kyrano and Onaha who was standing there and went over and one by one shook Alan's hand, slightly embarrassed yet welcoming.

"Okay, I'll let Onaha help you settle in the guest room and please ask her or anyone else if there is something you are wondering about or need," Jeff left the living room to go to his office. Everyone else left to do whatever they was doing before Alan had entered into their life, leaving Alan as abandoned and alone as he felt three years ago.

* * *

Everything was just like home, Alan thought as Onaha helped getting his stuff into the guestroom. Everyone live their own life meanwhile as they try to control his life. Jeff had mentioned rules Alan had to follow while he was staying at the island, most of them were standard stuff like don't leave the house in the middle of the night, not go into the jungle or enter someone else's room without permission, but there were certain rules that he didn't like and very much disagreed upon. He was not allowed to go into the silos or hangars for their machines, no communication with his friends until further notice and never be left alone without anyone knowing about his whereabouts for all times. They didn't trust him for a minute, so of course they didn't give him much freedom and independence he had fought so hard for the last three years. Alan lay down on the bed and was staring mindlessly on the ceiling. Alan wondered what he was going to do while he was here; he couldn't work or contact his friends. His dad would probably want to speak to him about his work and personal history, something he wasn't very open to discuss with his dad at the moment. Scott and the others might avoid him like a plague, because of disgust or uncertainty about what to do with him. Everyone else would threat him at least politely, which was fine by him for now. Alan slowly closed his eyes and began drifting to sleep due to exhaustion after several hours of adrenaline and emotional stress from his family. His last hope before losing conscious to sleep was that things wouldn't turn out to be as terrible as he assumed it going to be with him staying here, but only time would tell until then.

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**Here's your new chapter. I hope you will like it and review, follow, favorite or whatever. And I want to thank everyone for their support and reviews. I also wanted to recommend Sad-Blue-Eyed-Angel 2010's stories to those of you who likes TB stories, and check out her recently new story Never stop looking. It's amazing. **

**To you ****Sad-Blue-Eyed-Angel 2010 and other TB authors, I want to say keep up the good work. We love you guys for doing such a good job. **

******Hopefully I haven't put pressure on you guys and get hated for saying this, by being the crazy fangirl I am on the inside. **

******xXrebelgirl07Xx :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**8)**

After the meeting Jeff left Luke in Onaha's care and disappeared into his office and called John to tell him about the current situation with Luke staying on the Island and about the Hood. John had been calm and understanding about the whole thing, but he was worried about his dad being able to handle Luke, especially it's been a while since there had been an undisciplined teenager in the house. Jeff reassured his twenty-seven year old son that he could handle it, so they said their goodbyes and Jeff promised he would give John further updates on the situation. Then Jeff video called Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, a good family friend and London agent of International Rescue.

"Hello Jeff," Penelope said politely with a British accent. "How nice of you to call me. How are you and everyone else?"

"Hey Penny," Jeff smiled. "We're doing fine, both the business and the family is doing fine. We all are doing just fine."

"Well that's good to hear, but I get the feeling this is not a social call," Penelope said. "What is going on Jeff?"

Jeff sighed and looked at the computer screen. Of course Penny would notice there was something strange going on and it wasn't only due to her job. She can see through him like an open book, and she wasn't afraid to be straightforward on the matter either. "I need a favor, Penny."

"What kind of favor are we talking about?" Penelope asked, while raising her eyebrows. She wasn't surprised about Jeff asking her for a favor, but something about his face told her that this wasn't the kind of favor he normally asked her to do.

"I need you to dig up some information on a nineteen-year-old boy named Luke Shepard," Jeff replied.

"First of all, why do you want me to find information on this boy?" Penelope looked at him suspiciously. Almost like she knew he was hiding something from her, which was necessary to know about. "Secondly, what's really going on Jeff?"

Jeff told her the whole story about the break-in at Tracy Enterprises, the shooting at the police station and Luke Shepard's involvement in the whole thing. Penelope was shocked over what she hearing, nothing seemed to make any sense at this point.

"All I know about him is his occupation and that the Hood is after him," Jeff said wearily.

"Why would he be after this boy when he has no relations to you or the family business? His goal is obtaining wealth regardless of justice and ethics and his revenge on International Rescue, more importantly his revenge on you and Alan."

"I don't know Penny," Jeff grabbed the bridge of his nose. He was tired and insecure what to do at the moment. He knew that he was putting his family and the business in a dangerous risk, not only by harboring a supposed criminal, but also by letting a stranger into his home. However there was something about Luke he couldn't explain, maybe it was because of the fact that he reminded him of Alan. Not only did he look like him, but also his personality was similar in way to Alan. Jeff thought that maybe by helping Luke out then maybe he could finally forgive himself for letting Alan down and then he might come home.

"I will see what I can do," Penelope answered gently, knowing that he was thinking about Alan. Though she wasn't able to help him find his son three years ago, then maybe she could at least try to find some information about this boy and help him in this odd situation. "However I will not make any promises."

"Thanks Penny," Jeff said. "Call me as soon as you find anything."

"FAB Jeff," Penelope replied before ending the call.

Jeff leaned back on his chair and left a small weight had been lifted after he had told everyone about the news. He turned to look at the family photographs with a small smile of recognition on his face. He looked at the picture of Lucy with a gleeful smile on her face. Then turned his attention to the picture next to Lucy, the last picture that was taken three years ago with all of his sons present. He grabbed the photo and looked at the sixteen-year-old version of Alan, who was smiling and had his left arm on John's shoulder. Funny how just a few weeks after that picture were taken Alan ran away from home and haven't made any contact since then, Jeff thought sadly. He could still remember the day before he ran away home.

_(Flashback)_

_It was after a rescue when Jeff looked through the mail and saw big envelope addressed to Alan. Since Alan wouldn't be here before next week, Jeff wondered if he should let it wait till then and give it to him when he got here, but it didn't seem like a personal letter since there was no return address. It also had the symbol of education on edge of the envelope where the Tracy's home address was written. What could this be about? The headmaster at Wharton Academy hasn't called him about Alan being expelled or failing any of his classes, only the normal thing about Alan daydreaming, sleeping or skipping class again. Jeff figured that the envelope might be something important, so he decided to open it. When he opened the envelope he was shocked to find out what the content was, it was a high school diploma. How could that be possible? Alan was sixteen and still a student at Wharton, so how in the world could he get a hold of a high school diploma? _

_Together with the diploma there was a letter to Alan, which said:_

**_Congratulation,_**

**_Mr. Alan S. Tracy_**

**_You have completed our online education and passed with excellence in all subjects. In this letter you will find your legitimate high school diploma, a list on your work process and documentation that allow you apply for further education with recommendation from UM. Please feel free to use our services again._**

**_University of Massachusetts_**

_Jeff couldn't comprehend what he was reading. Alan had taken an online high school education course and graduated, meanwhile pretending he was studying at Wharton. Jeff became hurt and angry over his youngest son; they had an agreement that there were no shortcuts to get to work at International Rescue and Alan deliberately went behind his back. Why couldn't Alan just understand and listen for once in his life on what he was telling him? All Jeff wanted to do now at the moment was to call up his son and confront him, but decided that he would wait till Alan came home for summer vacation so Alan won't get a chance to hide and make up an excuse to him when he was confronted. He questioned if he should tell his sons about Alan, but dismissed the thought quickly. This was a matter between him and Alan, and by telling his brothers could be taken as a sign of betrayal and that they were ganging up and taking sides on the matter. The plan was Jeff would wait till Alan got home, so they could talk about it. Hopefully this talk won't end up as a fight between him and his son._

_So a week went by and Alan returned home with smile on his face when he saw his brothers, Scott, Virgil and Gordon. They jumped at him giving each other bear hugs and ruffle Alan's sandy blond hair, meanwhile Alan was laughing over the affection. Alan adored his brothers and his brothers adored him, despite the constant teasing and roughhousing. Jeff felt almost guilty for ruining Alan's homecoming, but this was something that couldn't wait or be brushed off as something irrelevant. _

_"__Alan, can I speak with you in my office," Jeff said sternly. "Now!"_

_The boys exchanged looks between them, uncertain what was going on, but they assumed Alan had done something that gotten himself into trouble again. Alan's face told him that he certainly didn't want to talk to his dad alone in the office, knowing that it was yet another lecture about something that he has done. A lecture that more often led to screaming matches between the two of them. Alan didn't say anything, only nodded his head and followed Jeff into the office and closed the door behind them. _

_Jeff took a seat on his chair while Alan remained standing in front of him, only with a desk keeping the distance between them. _

_"__Look dad, whatever I did…" Alan began apologizing, but Jeff wouldn't let him finish his apology because after a week of being silent he was beyond furious. _

_"__Did you honestly think that it was okay and that I wouldn't find out about it?" Jeff said furiously. "What were you thinking Alan?!"_

_Alan looked stunned and completely unaware what his dad was talking about. He knew that he should have remained silent, but he got defensive over the accusation. _

_"__What are you accusing me of doing dad?" Alan said defensive. "Are you sure it wasn't Gordon or someone else."_

_"__No Alan, I'm pretty sure that it wasn't your brothers that went behind my back and graduated on an online high school site," Jeff said. Then he took and handed over the envelope containing the high school diploma to Alan. Alan opened the envelope, read its contents and then looked at Jeff with fury in his eyes._

_"__How dare you go and read my mail without my permission!" Alan bellowed. "You are invading my personal privacy, and you get angry and shout at me for not telling you."_

_"__Alan, you knew our deal. No shortcuts and continue school in order to being a thunderbird and you went deliberately behind my back and did this. This is very serious Alan. How do you expect me to trust you in the field when you don't follow orders or take responsibility for your actions."_

_"__That's why I did it dad," Alan exclaimed. "I wanted to do something on my own and I took responsibility in my education and completed it early, so I could get more experience so you would know that you can trust me out there on the field." Alan threw his hands in the air in frustration and muttered something that Jeff couldn't hear clearly, but he assumed it was something insulting towards him. _

_"__Going behind my back isn't taking responsibility over your actions, it shows me just how much you need to grow up Alan," Jeff said wearily. "And since you completed your high school education and certainly not ready for college education any time soon, I have decided to send you to a military school where you will be taught discipline, respect and responsibility."_

_"__WHAT!" Alan shrieked. "You can't do this dad! You know as well as I do that I would be miserable in a military school."_

_"__It's the best solution until you start college and then maybe a fulltime IR rescuer," Jeff replied before turning his attention towards the window and looked at the view of the sunset. _

_"__Why do you assume that I'm going to college?" Alan asked, with hint of anger in his voice. "I don't want to go to college and it's my choice what I want to do with my life, so you have no right to decide my life or force me to do something that I don't want to do."_

_This made Jeff turn his attention back to his son, but this time he was far too angry to listen to his son's arguments._

_"__That's enough!" Jeff yelled. "You will do as I say and that's the end of it. You clearly don't understand the situation."_

_"__But it's my life."_

_"__I don't want to hear it Alan, you will go to military school and college and that's that. No discussion."_

_"__I'M STILL HERE DAD!" ALAN screamed at his dad. "AND IF YOU DON'T SEE THAT THEN I WILL MAKE IT EASY FOR YOU!" _

_Alan walked out of the office in anger while Jeff told him that they weren't finished, but Alan didn't listen and simply ignored him. Jeff sighed and was exhausted from fighting with Alan. It seemed that his relationship with his youngest was beyond strained despite their small progress after the Hood incident, but he loved his sons very much and would do anything for them. He knew he shouldn't have let Alan walkout like that, but he concluded that Alan needed to cool off before he would try and talk to him again later._

_However Alan didn't appear for the rest of the day and Jeff thought that Alan was still angry and wasn't ready to see anyone. So he let his son be and continued on the day before going to sleep with a slight feeling that something was wrong. The next morning he found out that Alan was gone without telling anyone where he went or when he would return. That day was the last time the whole Tracy family was happy. _

Alan just disappeared and left Jeff with a hole in his heart that made him realize that he was the reason that he son left and refused to make contact with anyone else in the family. And that was three years ago and Jeff had still no idea where or how is son is doing.

Jeff looked again at the picture of Lucy, thinking what she would have said about how he handled Alan. She would probably have yelled at him for being too stubborn and difficult to listen to their son and that she was disappointed in him. It was funny how Alan was almost an exact copy of his deceased wife, in both appearance and personality, and he could drive Jeff insane the same way Lucy used to do.

_Please Lucy, protect our son and guide him back home to us_, Jeff thought to himself as he rose from his seat, heading down toward his bedroom and get some sleep for the night. In his sleep he dreamt about the memory where the six-year-old Alan was telling him that he would one day take the world by storm like his brothers and make Jeff proud. Deep in Jeff's mind he knew what his young stated was true and the only thing he needed to do was for his son to return, so he finally gets the chance to apologize and tell Alan that he was indeed proud of him.

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**Here's your new chapter, and this time it's longer than usual so I hope you guys like it. Though I know the ending of this chapter wasn't the best, but I needed it to end somewhere before beginning on the next chapter. I had gotten a message from Bek-K, who asked me about how Alan has changed so his family doesn't recognize him since around sixteen to nineteen there are no notable changes with guys. My answer was that Alan has grown in a different way than his brothers making it hard to realize its him (at least in my mind). I also mentioned it in chap. 3 that 'Luke' looks very much like Alan, but with more sharper features. When you live through many experiences good and bad like Alan, things can have an effect physically, mentally and emotionally.  
That's what the idea about finding it hard to recognize him, something that might not happen in real life, but in fiction everything is possible.**

**Anyway thank you for your reviews, followings and favorites, and please continue doing so :)**

**xXrebelgirl07Xx**


	9. Chapter 9

**9)**

The next morning Alan woke up from the glowing sunrise coming from the window. It was calm and comfortable waking unlike his normal everyday awaking with the sound of traffic and neighbors fighting with each other at the crack of dawn in New York. Another good thing about waking up on the Island was that neither Danny nor Sarah would start a brawl over using the bathroom. Still Alan felt slightly trapped as he was awake and most of the household would still be asleep, and according to the rules Alan wasn't allowed to go anywhere unless someone knew about or was with him. Alan felt offended that they couldn't trust him enough to be left alone, he was nineteen not a nine year old that needs constant supervision. Alan could feel the tension that was contained in his body from the last couple of days and he had a need to release it, and the only way to do it was to go out on a run. But because of the rules he was not allowed to do so, unless they didn't find out about his rule breaking.

Alan got out of bed and put on a pair of blue shorts and a white t-shirt and started to roam around in his backpack. Since he always traveled around a lot when he was doing odd jobs, there was rarely time for him to stop by his apartment and pick up his things, so he traveled mostly with everything he needed. He had packed climbing equipment for the job in the Himalayas and forgotten to unpack it when he came back to New York. And this would be a perfect opportunity to test his climbing skills unnoticed. Alan grinned cheeky as he carefully tied the rope to one of the balcony pillars. He always loved a challenge, but this time the challenge included to climb down from the second floor and not get noticed by anyone and most particularly his dad, who's bedroom was next to the Alan's. His dad wasn't a light sleeper, but it won't take much for his dad to wake up and notice something was going on and would probably point fingers at him. Still considering the situation he have been through far worst circumstances then sneaking out of the house without being caught by his dad or brothers. So Alan slipped down the balcony and when he reached the ground he untied the rope around him and ran towards the beach. Finally getting the feeling of freedom since he had arrived back home.

* * *

After running for about an hour Alan felt at ease and decided it was time to run back to the house. Besides he was sweating and needed a good cold shower after the workout, and he didn't want to announce to the whole household that he had broken one of the rules just on the first day of staying there on the island. So ran up towards the house and sneaked towards the wall where he had left his climbing gear. He grabbed the rope and began climbing the wall. Everything was going until Alan reached the handrail and the door to the balcony next to his opened up. It was dad, which means that Alan was in trouble to get caught. Not that he was worried about the punishment his dad would give him since he didn't know he was his son, but he had promised his friends that he would try not to get thrown off the island.

His palms felt wet, sweaty and slippery like they were covered in motor oil and Alan didn't have time to think, instead he climbed over the railing in one movement and fell on the balcony floor making silent sound of someone falling on the floor. Jeff heard the noise and looked around his balcony to see what could have made the sound, while Alan used this as an opportunity to untie the rope and get back into the guestroom. When Jeff didn't see anything on his balcony, he leaned over to look at the next door only to find nothing had been disturbed. Jeff shrugged his shoulders and went back into the bedroom and closed the door behind him. Alan breathes out as he was hiding next to the door, freaking out that he almost got caught.

Next time he had to be more careful, Alan thought to himself as he headed into the bathroom and took a quick shower. When he got out of the shower, he put on another pair of shorts and a blue t-shirt. Alan figured since his dad was awake, then most likely Onaha and Kyrano would be too and would be making breakfast down in the kitchen. So if there was someone in the kitchen then that meant that he wasn't alone and that he could get some breakfast without eating with people who obviously felt uncomfortable being around at the moment. It would probably be best that he left the Tracys alone for now, at least until they felt more comfortable having him around. Alan left the guestroom and went towards the kitchen, hoping that his assumptions were correct.

* * *

Every morning was the same for Onaha. She and her husband would wake up early and she would begin the breakfast preparations, while her husband would leave to check on the garden. She loved cooking and cleaning more than anyone else in the household, but she often got frustrated with the Tracys lack of domestic skills. They couldn't clean or cook anything and if they were left alone they would more likely destroy the house than get into a accident on those machines they were flying. Then again she never knew when one of them would surprise her, but she was certain about one thing that neither one of the Tracys would stop drinking coffee. So every morning she made a fresh pot of coffee before preparing bread with different toppings, juices and yogurts on the table. She knew that Mr. Tracy always had his breakfast first together with Scott and sometimes Gordon, but this morning she was surprised to see the guest arriving first at the table. Luke smiled gently to her before taking a seat at the table.

"Good morning," Luke said gently. "How are you this morning Onaha?"

Onaha smiled at him, pleased that even though he was a supposed criminal he was very polite towards her. She almost couldn't believe that this boy who was around her daughter's age was actually in danger from her crazy half brother-in-law.

"Good morning to you too," Onaha opened the cupboard and took out a green mug and put it on the table. "I'm fine, thank you for asking. Do you want some coffee with you breakfast?"

"No thanks," Luke shook his head. "I don't drink coffee. I find drinking coffee unnecessary to rely on if you want to be awake. Besides research haven't confirmed or denied that coffee is very healthy to drink anyway, so I'm not taking any chances."

"Oh," Onaha said astonished. She wasn't used to having a young man who didn't drink coffee, especially in this household where everyone loved and relied on coffee everyday, most particularly her boss Mr. Tracy. "Is there something else I can offer you? Tea or hot chocolate?"

"I wonder if it is possible to get a cup of warm water and lemon?" Luke asked while his right hand was rubbing his neck in embarrassment. Obviously he wasn't used to being treated like a family member the same way they did here on the island, where even employees were family to the Tracys. Onaha only smiled and nodded at the boy and began boiling some hot water in the mug and chopped a couple of lemon slices and put it into two mugs. She handed one of the mugs over to Luke, who thanked her and took a sip of the hot drink.

"So eat your breakfast," Onaha said, before her tone turned into a motherly worried person. "You are too thin, what have you been eating lately?"

"Emm…" Luke was unsure what to say and didn't really want to explain himself about why he was so thin, so he changed the subject. "Where is everyone? Shouldn't they be here for breakfast too?"

"Mr. Tracy should be here shortly and he might eat together with Scott, while Gordon will eat after his morning swim so he should be up soon. Virgil on the other hand wouldn't eat breakfast before around 11 am. My husband, daughter and I will eat with Mr. Tracy. Mr. Hackenbacker and Fermat are down at the lab, since they made some new invention and wanted to test it before breakfast."

This perked Luke's attention and rose from his seat. Still holding the mug, he thanked her once again for the drink and began to leave when he almost crashed into Mr. Tracy. Onaha observed the interaction between the two of them and somehow she got the impression that Luke was trying to avoid Mr. Tracy. They were talking very low, so she couldn't really hear what they were saying, but it was obvious that the boy wanted to leave. Sure the boy was polite towards Mr. Tracy, but she noticed he distanced himself and wanted to leave quickly as possible. Apparently Mr. Tracy noticed this distance and wanted to talk to him more, but Luke quickly left the room and hurried towards the lab. Meanwhile Mr. Tracy came into the kitchen and took the other mug on the table without looking at the content of the mug. He was in deep thought as he took a sip from the mug and the moment he tasted the liquid he spit it right out again. He looked horrified over the drink that was definitely not his loving coffee. He turned to look at Onaha and said:

"What is this? What happened to the coffee?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Tracy," Onaha apologized. "Mr. Shepard requested hot water and lemon, so I made him a cup. Also I wanted to try it, since it sounded like it was healthier than coffee."

"You are forgiven Onaha, it was my mistake," Jeff said. "So you spoke with him. What kind of impression do you get from him?"

"I find him as very polite boy, but not very talkative about himself," Onaha said. She gave Mr. Tracy a new cup with coffee, which Jeff took with kindness. "However he tries to keep a distance from you, which makes no sense at all. You are keeping him safe, so why would he be keeping a distance from you unless there was something going on."

Jeff nodded by the statement, thinking that he had to keep a closer eye on his guest until he found out more about him.

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**New chapter, I hope you like it. This chapter is more of a fill-in before some action is going to happen, so of course it might not be a good chapter. I wanted to show Alan's more rule-breaking and independent side of him as well wanted a scene where he interacted with Onaha, who is more mother figure to him. I thought it might be difficult all of a sudden have someone taking care of him since he have been on his own for three years. It might be even more difficult for Alan who has no mom and been living on his own together with his friends. Also the scene with Jeff was more showing that Alan still harbor some angry feelings about his dad. **

**Still I wanted to get this chapter done quickly, and I plan on writing and update the next chapter shortly. And thank you for the reviews, followings and favorites. Keep reviewing, following and favoriting this story.**

**xXrebelgirl07Xx **


	10. Chapter 10

**10)**

Fermat was concentrating on testing his and his dad's latest invention, a modified stun gun that both releases and absorbs electricity from any kind of electrical source. The stun gun would be considered non-lethal weapon since the charges of electricity were low, but if the power source was extremely high then it could be deadly. Still the weapon was made for mostly law enforcement, but also for some private agencies that worked in security management. However the stun gun only seemed to work in theory, not in practice. The voltage didn't seem to connect to the stun gun, so it wouldn't absorb the same voltage it released. Fermat was getting frustrated that it didn't work, especially when he tested it against frozen meat. None of the tests seemed to work and Fermat knew that Onaha wasn't going to be very happy when she found her meat patties were used to experiment on, but no matter what he tried to do nothing seemed to work.

"Having problems?" someone said, interrupting Fermat's train of thoughts. He turned around to see the newest guest on the island Luke Shepard, standing there in front of him with a cup in one hand and carrying a backpack on his shoulder. Fermat looked closely at the guy. He was tall around 6 feet 1 and his hair was scraggy and unkempt. His facial features were sharp and intense, almost like he could look into someone's soul. He was lean and muscular build, probably because what he does for a living, but Fermat wondered if there was something more to it than that.

"Y-yeah," Fermat stuttered as he turned of the stun gun and placed it on the metal table in front of him. "I-it seems t-that the v-voltage doesn't c-connect with t-the s-stun g-gun."

"Okay," Luke said, looking questionable at the stun gun on the table. Almost like he wanted to take a closer look at it, but wasn't sure if he should do it or not. "Would you mind if I took a look at it? I don't mean not to insult you or anything, but maybe you just missed something."

Strangely enough Fermat didn't feel like he was being insulted by his statement, but he had his doubts that this guy could figure out what was wrong with it especially since from what Mr. Tracy told them that he was a security tester and problem solver. That didn't mean that he could fix any mechanical or technical problems.

"S-s-s…okay," Fermat said, picked it up and handed Luke the stun gun, while Luke place his backpack on the floor next to the table and the mug on the table. Luke studied the stun gun closely, turned it over and then tested it on the meat patty. The result was the same as when he tested it, so Luke must have seen concluded the same as he did. However Luke didn't give up, instead he opened the compartment where the batteries were. When he looked at the batteries, he turned to look at him and said:

"It looks like the problem is the batteries. I think when you modified the stun gun; the modifications on the batteries weren't consistent with the stun gun. That's why the voltage doesn't connect with the stun gun. So the best way to fix it is to create a whole new set of batteries that can handle the voltage from the gun, but then again I'm not an expert."

Fermat was surprised. Even though he felt a little ashamed that he hadn't thought about the batteries, it was both weird and surprising that Luke even knew about this. Fermat assumed that he was more impulsive and impatient kind of person; then again looks can be deceiving.

"Thank you for the tip, b-but if you d-don't mind me a-asking how do y-you know this?" Fermat asked nervously, since he felt he was intruding on Luke's life. He always felt it was not in his place to ask personal questions no matter if it was family or friends, they had to be open up about it first before he would ask questions about it.

"Actually it's because it is part of my college education," Luke shrugged. Almost like it was no big deal.

"Really, I had no i-idea you went to college."

"Not many people are aware of it, mostly because what I do for a living," Luke said, while he rubbed his hand on his neck in embarrassment. "Also because I study mechanical engineering online college at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth."

"Wow that's a-amazing" Fermat smiled. "I mean both working fulltime at the same time study such demanding subject. I c-could never work and study at the same time. B-besides studying e-engineering and c-computer science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology is quite d-demanding."

"That's so cool, tell me all about it while we work on fixing the stun gun."

"Y-y-y…that sounds g-great," Fermat said, as he and Luke began working on the stun gun.

* * *

It didn't take long before Alan, as Luke became friends with Fermat. They talked about school, engineering, inventions and everything else that seemed appropriate at the time. Though neither of them went into detail about their personal life, but they got along and had fun working on different inventions, together and alone. It didn't take long before Tin-Tin decided to join them and quickly became friends with Luke as well. She came and went to help Brains or her parents and hang out the guys, something she did more often than helping out. Of course Brains came in to check on them often to see if everything was alright between them, but was glad that his son was happy and had found someone else to really talk to except for him and Tin-Tin.

The Tracy family didn't appear at the lab for the entire morning and Alan didn't blame them for keeping a distance from him, since he didn't really wanted to be around them and be angry at his dad at the moment either. It wasn't that he hated them or anything, but he was still angry about what happened three years ago. No matter what he did back then it wasn't good enough and he felt that he was pushed into a corner with no escape. It was frustrating even now when they had no clue who he was, and they couldn't just trust him and let him be free. That's what Alan was thinking about when he was walking by the pool when he was returning back to his room with his stuff. He stopped when he saw Gordon and Virgil fooling around in the swimming pool meanwhile Scott was sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water, watching his younger brothers mess around. Alan couldn't help, but think about those times when he used to play around with his brothers the same way Gordon and Virgil was doing right now with Scott watching them like a smoldering hen. Those were good times that he missed very much.

"Hey, do you want to swim?" Gordon asked, when he noticed Alan standing there observing them from far away.

"Emm…." Alan said baffled. Alan was a little surprised they noticed him, but he was mostly surprised that Gordon had invited him into his precious swimming pool. Gordon saw the pool as his own personal property the same way as Scott saw Thunderbird 1 as his 'bird', meaning they were very possessive about it and not into sharing. "No thanks, but thank you for inviting me though. I should probably be on my way now." Alan walked pass the pool and was about to enter the house, when something stopped him.

"Probably because he doesn't want to feel guilty about lying in order to stay here," a voice muttered, but loud enough that made Alan turn around. It was Scott, who was glaring at him like he was this major threat.

"Excuse me?" Alan asked, though his tone held slight anger in it. He focusing on not getting angry like he used to be when he was younger, mostly because he didn't want to get recognized, but also he wasn't that guy. He wasn't the sixteen-year-old Alan anymore. "What did you just say?"

"I said you didn't want to swim because you wouldn't want to feel guilty over lying to everyone over why you are staying here," Scott said restrained, even though it wasn't hard to see his anger and over-protectiveness in his voice. He stood up and walked towards Alan. He was only a few centimeters taller than Alan, but he still able to look down at him like he was the boss around here. Alan wanted to laugh from that thought, but he didn't say anything and listened to Scott, who was talking about Alan, being a liar and a criminal.

"Listen Old Man," Alan interrupted Scott after getting tired of hearing all the allegations towards him. The nickname he came up with for Scott wasn't intentional, but he needed to make a point with his oldest brother, who was almost like a second-dad to him. The only difference between Scot and his dad was that Scott loved and mostly listened to whatever his brothers said unlike his dad, but he often judged opinions that weren't his own and was quick to argue about it. "Before you go and accuse me, go and look for evidence to support your theory. Otherwise keep your opinions to yourself, so no one else has to listen to this meaningless chitchat."

Scott looked shocked that he actually talked back, since Alan hadn't really said one word to him before now. And all of a sudden he talked back, and wasn't afraid to do it either especially towards his older brothers. However it didn't take long before the shock on Scott's face disappeared and was replaced with exasperation.

"What?!" Scott exclaimed. "I'm not an old man. I'm only twenty-nine, just ten years older than you. By the way you need to be polite and respectful towards your elders."

"Oh, like you Old Man," Alan taunted. "No I don't think so. Besides I don't tend to be polite and respectful towards people who judge me and accuse me of lying and for doing criminal activities."

"You lying fox!" Scott pounced at Alan and punched him in the face that made Alan lose his balance and staggered down on the floor. Alan was certainly taken by surprise, when he looked up to see Scott towering him. He could feel and taste the blood coming from his mouth and it didn't exactly help that his face felt numb.

"SCOTT!" Virgil yelled. He got out of the pool and went to help Alan up from the floor. Meanwhile Gordon got up next to Scott and yelled, "DUDE NOT COOL!"

Scott didn't feel even a little ashamed about it, but Alan was quick to retaliate when he used his foot to kick him on the temple, knocking down Scott's balance. The brawl continued between Scott and Alan with Virgil and Gordon as the audience until it eventually attracted everyone else in the household to see what was going on. Fermat, Tin-Tin, Brains, Kyrano and Onaha tried to break up the fight, but nothing seemed to work. It wasn't before Jeff walked out to see his oldest son fighting the boy; he managed to intervene between the two of them.

"That's enough!" Jeff shrieked as he separated them on each side. "From both of you!"

"Dad…" Scott attempted to apologize, but Jeff didn't want to hear it. He was not happy over his son's action towards

"I'm disappointed in you Scott, actually in both of you," Jeff glared at both Scott and Alan. "You both will get punished for this bad behavior and…"

Jeff didn't get to finish when the alarm went off, signaling that someone needed help from International Rescue. No one wasted time to get right to work except for Alan, who felt more than ever like an outcast when it involved the family business. It was always him that was left behind and always him who had to wait for them.

"Brains, go to the command center and prepare for the launch with Fermat," Jeff commanded, and Brains and Fermat hurried over to the command center to prep for the launch. "Scott, you will this one sit out and help out in Thunderbird 2 as punishment for your behavior. Virgil, you and Gordon make sure everything good to go. Also bring some packs of ice for Scott, so he doesn't look like another version of Rocky."

Virgil and Gordon nodded and hurried off together with Scott, even though you could hear that he was complaining that he wasn't going to get to fly his 'bird'.

"Tin-Tin, can you help Luke get some ice on those bruises?" Jeff turned his attention towards the two nineteen-year-olds that was left standing there.

"Yes, Mr. Tracy," Tin-Tin replied. She grabbed Alan's hand and began leading him towards the infirmary.

It was then Jeff realized that he had just exposed the family business in front of Luke, which could be very bad unless he didn't convince Luke to keep their secret. But now wasn't the time to do it. He would talk to Luke after the rescue; hopefully they could come to some agreement. Then he ran to the Thunderbird 2 silo.

* * *

"Thanks," Alan said as he took the ice pack Tin-Tin had handed over to him. Then he put the ice pack on his left side of the mouth, knowing that it already started to bruise around his face. Not that he cared about it really, he had been through worse punches than his brother, but it was still difficult to accept that his brother would punch him like that without no valid reason to. Besides Scott's face has very hard edges, Alan thought.

"Come on put the pack back on your face," Tin-Tin said, interrupting his thoughts. "Otherwise you will look like Mike Tyson tomorrow." She gently took the pack from his hands and put it on his face. The coldness from the pack sting, but not to painfully so Alan tried to focus on something else. Alan had noticed that Tin-Tin hadn't changed as dramatically as he had, but turned into an even more beautiful flower that was living in the wild. Her hair was black and curly while her brown eyes shined with warmth and strength. She had grown much in the three years apart, but she looked more grown up than before. But the one thing he loved the most about Tin-Tin was her angel smile that could light up the entire universe. Alan smiled thinking about the time when he almost confessed to her, but he quickly shook his head. Because it didn't matter anymore that he had those feelings for, since he was pretty sure she didn't have those feelings for him. Not before he left and especially not now that he was back as someone she didn't know.

"So tell me something," Alan said in order to think about something else. He gave a small smile despite the pain and turned to look at Tin-Tin. "Is it just me or does Scott Tracy beat up every guy that comes to stay at your island?"

"Well, he doesn't normally beat up people," Tin-Tin began thinking out loud. "I guess it is because of your situation, maybe also because you remind him of his little brother." She looked down at the floor, like she was ashamed over thinking about Alan. Alan himself couldn't understand why it mattered to them or not.

"Why? What happened?" Alan asked as leaned closer towards Tin-Tin to see what her reaction was. Tin-Tin was unsure if she should say something or not, since it wasn't really in her place to talk about it, but she decided that it might be the good idea to talk to a stranger about it.

"I don't know all the details, but Mr. Tracy's youngest son Alan Tracy ran away from home three years ago," Tin-Tin said sadly. "We all took it very hard when he left. Both Fermat and me was and still is one of Alan's best friends so we were of course sad that he left, but we could understand why he left. It was his family took it the hardest."

"How so?" Alan asked, waiting for her to continue telling about the events after he left the island. He had always wondered how the others reacted on his disappearing act.

"They were so scared and sad all the time that they almost couldn't function straight. The things they loved to do on their sparetime, their memories and it even the rescues became difficult for them to do from time to time because everything reminded them of Alan, who was their biggest supporter and had always wanted to be a part of the family business. They couldn't understand why Alan would leave, especially without saying anything to anyone. It was almost like he wanted to separate his life and begin a new one that didn't involve anyone of us who loved him," Tin-Tin said, while looking she was close to crying.

Alan wasn't sure what to say. He could understand his friends who were closest to him would miss him like Fermat, Tin-Tin, Parker, Lady Penelope, Brains, Onaha and Kyrano. His family on the other hand was an entirely different story. Alan thought they would maybe be sad at first, but quickly forget about him like they always did. Did they really miss him like Tin-Tin said?

Both of them were silent after that, since they didn't know what to say or do about this confession. Tin-Tin had never admitted the incident out loud because she was afraid it was far too painful to talk about, admitting her feeling for Alan, who she had no idea if he ever felt the same for her and if he still did. While Alan wasn't sure how he could give any of them the comfort they needed and deserved. Finally Alan managed to say something from the heart, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry about what?" Tin-Tin asked. She hadn't expected him to apologize, especially for something he didn't do.

"About your friend. It must have been tough."

Tin-Tin nodded and Alan gave her a small smile as a reassurance before standing up. He began walking out of the infirmary while Tin-Tin kept sitting on the chair she had been sitting on since they came in. Then Alan turned around and said the one thing he needed to make sure the Tracy household would understand about him. "In case you and everyone else here was wondering, I didn't want to come here."

"W-what?" Tin-Tin stuttered. Taken by surprise by his statement, but also totally irrelevant to what they had just talked about.

"It was my friends that told me to come here in order to keep me safe, not to lie and expose what you do here. They honestly believed that you guys were capable keeping me safe from the Hood and I knew they were doing what they thought was best for me, which is why I never wanted to intrude into your life and pose as a threat to everyone," Alan said quietly and left the infirmary. Leaving Tin-Tin even more confused than what she had been before.

* * *

When Jeff got back from the rescue he hadn't expected to find Luke sitting in his office waiting for him, but at least he didn't have to search for him. Brains and Fermat had already left, leaving Jeff alone with this strange boy. He sat down on his chair looking intently at Luke before he finally said:

"I'm sure you know what we do here on this island."

"Yes," Luke said curtly. "I will keep it a secret even though I already had a feeling you were International Rescue."

"How?" Jeff asked, surprised that this boy had figured the big family secret. They hadn't done anything that could even remotely be considered a clue to who they were.

"Billionaire and ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy living on an private island together with his friends and family, totally isolated from any other close contact from the world. It's not hard to imagine what you are doing here."

"I see," Jeff agreed. He hadn't really considered that you could imagine why he lived the way he did and what he did here, but then again there wasn't many people he knew that dreamed and imagined the same way he did. "Alright then, let's talk about the incident between you and my son Scott."

"How about you'll give me your punishment and we don't talk about it," Luke suggested. Obviously he didn't want to go into detail about what happened, neither had Scott when Jeff had asked him about it. Sometimes he wondered if boys of the younger generation had an unwritten 'man code' about how to handle certain things, but he never asked one of his sons due to the fact that they most likely wouldn't tell him and deny everything.

"Fine by me," Jeff said. There is no use in forcing him to tell me, because it could only end with that Luke distanced himself even more than he already have. Jeff didn't want to take any chances. "You will help Kyrano in the gardens every morning for the next three days. Is that okay for you?

Luke nodded in agreement and the two of them stood up from their seats. Then Jeff noticed Luke hadn't left yet. Instead he was playing with his fingers, like he had something on his mind. They just stood there staring at each other, until Jeff had had enough.

"Was there something else?" Jeff asked.

"There was one other thing I wanted to talk to you about," Luke asked with a small grin on his face. Jeff wasn't sure if he should be curious or to be terrified about what was going on in that boy's head.

* * *

Alan couldn't stop grinning as he was sitting in front of his computer waiting for his friends to pick up the video call. He hadn't expected that his dad would allow him to call his friends making them sure he was alright and also making sure they hadn't killed each other, but his dad had allowed it only they kept track on his computer activity. Still keeping a close watch on him, but at least he could talk to his friends just a little bit instead of being isolated away from them.

"Hey guys," Alan said, when the screen finally showed Sarah and Danny. They looked sort of tired, but he assumed it was because of everything that had happened or because they had one of their fights again. Naturally Alan assumed the latter.

"OMG! A-A…" Sarah cheered happily until she looked around in case anyone could hear her say his name, even though she wasn't in the right place to check that. "Wait, are you alone?"

"Not alone enough for us to talk about our most private and personal secrets," Alan answered. "But close enough."

"At least we know that you are okay," Sarah said relieved until she finally noticed the bruises on Alan's face.

"Dude, what have happened to your face," Danny said, when he too had noticed the bruises on Alan's face that definitely hadn't been there before. "Did someone hit you with a baseball bat?"

"How did you get that horrible bruise on your face?" Sarah asked, with her doctor voice.

"Brotherly bonding," Alan answered sarcastically. "Scott wanted tell me his opinion about me staying here and let's just say he got through to me."

"Man," Danny looked actually worried, which is totally weird because he is such an easy-going guy. "He got his opinions though."

"Are you okay? Do you need us to pick you up?" Sarah asked frantically.

"I'm fine. I got everything sorted out," Alan shrugged. "Anyway how are things back home?"

Both of them became quiet, too quiet for Alan's taste. They turned to look at each other or somewhere else, but anywhere else except at him. Something had happened and whatever it was, it was not good.

"What happened?" Alan asked, but this time he wasn't giving them room to avoid the question.

"They came in here and searched the place," Sarah said dejected. Danny looked just as dejected as Sarah was, but this didn't explain anything.

"Who came and searched the place?" Alan already had a bad feeling of who it could be, but he hoped that he was wrong for once.

"It was the Hood."

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**Here's your new chapter and it's the longest I have written. So I hope you like it. Please review, follow and favorite and thank you everyone who has ****review, follow and favorite. Just a future reference I don't know a lot about engineering and high tech information, so I will probably improvise on it. Besides this is fanfic where you can make up anything. You guys are amazing, ****until next time...**

**xXrebelgirl07Xx**


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